Background: Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is defined as a transformation of tubular epithelial cells into mesenchymal ones. These cells migrate through the extracellular matrix and change into active myofibroblasts, which are responsible for excessive matrix deposition. Such changes may lead to tubular dysfunction and fibrosis of the renal parenchyma, characteristic of chronic kidney ...

OBJECTIVE Genomic changes were defined in cultures of regenerated porcine coronary endothelial cells to explain the alterations that underlie their dysfunction. METHODS AND RESULTS Regeneration of the endothelium was triggered in vivo by endothelial balloon denudation. After 28 days, both left circumflex (native cells) and left anterior descending (regenerated cells) coronary arteries were di...

Matrilysin activity exhibits a broad bell-shaped pH-dependence profile, with pK(a) values of 4.0 and 9.8. A maximum of five out of eight tyrosine residues in matrilysin were nitrated with tetranitromethane. On nitration of between one and five tyrosines, pK(a) at the alkaline side (pK(e2)) was shifted from 9.8 to 10.3-10.6, while that at the acidic side (pK(e1)) was not altered. The pK(e2) that...

Regenerative medicine strategies for restoring articular cartilage face significant challenges to recreate the complex and dynamic biochemical and biomechanical functions of native tissues. As an approach to recapitulate the complexity of the extracellular matrix, collagen-mimetic proteins offer a modular template to incorporate bioactive and biodegradable moieties into a single construct. We m...

The prognosis for lung cancer patients treated with chemotherapy is poor. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) genes could influence treatment outcome by altering apoptotic pathways. Eight SNPs with known or suspected phenotypic effect in six genes (MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, MMP7, MMP9 and MMP12) were investigated. For 349 Caucasian patients with primary lung cancer,...

The chromatin remodeler complex SWI/SNF plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes. Brahma related gene 1(BRG1), a catalytic subunit of the SWI/SNF complex, is known to be mutated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its role in HCC remains unclear. Here, we investigate the role of BRG1 on cell growth and invasiveness as well as its effect on the expression of pu...

Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a β-galactoside-binding protein, has been implicated in cell proliferation, cell adhesion, and the progression and metastasis of various types of cancer. The present study investigated the involvement of Gal-3 in the tumorigenesis and progression of pituitary tumors using three rat pituitary tumor cell lines. Following transfection with Gal-3 expression and interference vect...